The word tsunami comes from two Japanese words: tsu, which means harbor, and nami, which means wave.

Japan

Japan

In March 2011, Japan suffered from one of most violent earthquakes in history.

Japan

Its coastline shifted by as much thirteen feet to the east.

Japan

The tsunami spawned by the earthquake destroyed virtually everything in its wake.

Japan

Duckweed carpets the water in a girl’s front yard at Bojonegoro, Java, Indonesia

Covering the monsoons entailed day after day wallowing in filthy
water up to my chest, or standing in the street in a torrential downpour, my shoulder aching from the umbrella
propped in my armpit, and an impatient assistant wishing he were somewhere else.

Porbandar, Gujarat, India

I spent four days, in the flooded city of Gujarat, India, wading around the streets in waist-deep water that was filled with
bloated animal carcasses and other waste material.

Porbandar, Gujarat, India

The fetid water enveloped me leaving a greasy film over my
clothes and body. Every night I returned to my flooded hotel,
empty except for a nightwatchman, and bathed my shriveled feet in disinfectant.

Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi, India

Goa, India

Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans in August 2005, was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.
Almost two thousand people died in the hurricane and the flood which followed.

New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

New Orleans, United States

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

On December 26, 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami killed over 230,000 people in fourteen countries.

Four days after the tsunami hit Sri Lanka’s coastline
A man prays for the victims